Bob and George discussed some few minor changes to the car. But George had other plans for the car. When Bob picked up the car he could have sworn that it wasn't the same car that he had left 3 months ago. Every square inch of Hirohata's car was modified by Sam, George and Frank Sonzogni. Sam removed the B-pillars, cut off and welded the top of the doors to the roof and turned the Merc into a hardtop. The top was further chopped 4 inches in the front, and 7 in the rear. The stock rear window was reinstalled at a rakish new angle in order to fit the new lines of the roof. This meant that a large new section of the top had to be scratch built to to make it all flow nicely. At the front, a new cut was made just above the beltline on the A-pillar for a new door shape, the drip rails were removed in the process as well. A V-butted windshield was fit, a customizer's trick instead of using the stock two-pice unit. Bob's Mercury was the first chopped 1951 Mercury, and the first hardtopped 1949 -1951 Mercury.[2]

The rear fenders were extended and fit with frenched 1952 Lincoln tailights. For balance, the front fenders were extended 4 inches as well and modified with frenched 1952 Ford headlight rims. The stock chrome was removed from the hood, trunk and sides. The trunk corners were rounded, and the hood was filled, peaked and extended into the grille.[3] The gravel pan was molded-in and reshaped to match the top.[2] The grille was constructed from three 1951 Ford grilles. The grille wrapped around under the frenched headlights. The parking light holders were fabricated from old grille bars welded together and chromed. The lenses were hand-made from clear plastic and frenched.[3]

The factory dips on the doors were filled and the surrounding sheet metal was reshaped to flow with the 1952 Buick Riviera trim spears which were used on the car. The side trim flowed into functional scoops carved into the rear panels to assist in brake cooling. The scoops were punctuated by three teeth from a 1952 Chevrolet grille. New fenderskirts where made to fit flush into the stock Mercury wheel openings. Round rod was used to add the lip on the bottom. Same round rod was used to create the lip on the front fenders.[2]

To give the car a proper stance, Bob's Merc was lowered more in the rear than in the front. Chopped coils were used in the front, while the frame was kicked up in the rear. The springs were de-arched, and two sets of 1 1/2 lowering blocks were used. A new drive tunnel was fabricated in order to accommodate the drive shaft in the lowered body. Sam Barris and Frank Sonzogni did most of the work on the car. Sam did the drivers side, and Frank the passenger side.

The build took 97 days to complete, and according to Bob Hirohata it seemed like it sat untouched for 60 days. As the 1952Motorama was coming up, Bob thinks George wanted to make a good showing as they really hustled to get the Hirohata Merc and two other cars done in 30 days. In an interview Bob did with Street Rodder in 1977, he said that the seats and door panels were taken to Carson Top Shop for upholstery while the bodywork was still being done.[1]At Carson Top Shop the seats, headliner and kick panels were upholstered in a white and green Naugahyde rolls and pleats. The trunk was upholstered by Gaylord's Kustom Shop in Lynwood. Gaylord covered the floor with a green carpet, before the sides were lined with pleated and rolled white leatherette. The stock dash was enlivened with custom plastic knobs fabricated by Bob Hirohata himself. The dash knobs gained popularity, and was soon thereafter put into production by Cal Customs. The dashboard was actually the first Dick Jackson ever painted on a car, and it was pinstriped by the legendary Von Dutch. Von Dutch made a striped figure on the dash called "This is the City".

Unlike other custom cars of its time the Hirohata Merc was not painted in a dark metallic lacquer. George Barris painted it in right in the beginning of 1952 in a two tone Sea Foam Green or Ice green as many people call it with Organic Green below the trim spears. Not long after it was completed, the front bumper guards were sectioned two inches to clear the custom grille. Bob added whitewall tires, 1949 Cadillac sombrero hubcaps, and twin Appleton S-552 spotlights. The 1949 Cadillac sombreros was later replaced by sombreros from a 1953 Cadillac.

The Hirohata Merc immediately began appearing in magazines and winning car show trophies all over the country. As he wanted to see the Indianapolis 500, Bob took his award winning custom on a route 66 cross country trip to the 4th annual Indianapolis Custom Show. The trip was chronicled in the Rod & Custom October 1953 story "Kross Kountry In A Kustom - Mile After Mile In My Modified Mercillac". About 8 days before he was supposed to leave, he decided to replace the Flathead with a brand new 1953 Cadillac overhead valve V8 engine.[1]Dick Lyon of Lyon Engineering did the engine switch in the Mercury. The clutch was taken from a Ford, and the flywheel came from an Oldsmobile. The conversion took 5 days. And Bob completed the conersion by sending the car to Nates Muffler Shop for a set of headers. In Indianapolis the Merc won the big first place trophy. The only trouble Bob had on his 2,500 mile trip was because the car was so low. So on their way home, they took one set of lowering blocks out for the trip.[1]

As the Merc was Bob's only car, he drove it almost every day. Around 1954, Barris did some minor changes to the bodywork and removed the antennas on the real fenders. George Barris painted the car Avocado Green.[4]

In Rodding and Re-styling January 1956 there is a letter from Bob Hirohata in the "RODDING and 'Riting" section. In the letter Bob tells how big fan he is of the magazine, and that he would like to see more customs featured. In the letter he tells that he owns a 1951 Mercury restyled by Barris Kustoms of Los Angeles, that is painted in a golden lime mist paint job. So that dates the golden lime mist color back to at least 1955. In the same letter Bob is also saying that the engine is chromed, and that the car has been fit with a two-way radio, portable rear speaker with 50-foot extension cord for beaches and picnincs, gold-plated hubcaps, custom upholstery inside trunk, tool case mounted inside with special screwdriver handles made of green plastic to match the knobs on the dashboard. By the time the Hirohata Merc had won a total of 26 trophies at car shows in California, Indiana, and Michigan, and Bob tells that no other single custom in California could match that.[5] Overall the Hirohata Merc is supposed to have won 184 trophies.

The Merc was used in the movie Runnin Wild featuring Mamie Van Doren. It was not the only Barris custom used on the set, Fred Rowe's 1951 Mercury was used as well. Bob sold the Hirohata Merc to Robert Waldsmith in 1955. In 1957, Robert was was hit by a car comming from the opposite direction, the whole left side was banged up. Sam Gates fixed the car up after the accident, and painted the body metallic gold with a clear lacquer. He had to paint the whole car because he was not able to match the Avocado green that George Barris mixed up.[4]

After a while, Doug Kinney bought the car for 200 dollars. The gold lacquer paint had cracked a lot from the sun and everything, so he tried to fill the cracks and repainted it in lime green. Doug stored it away in his garage for years. According to Ed Roth the car was then in primer, and had a big dent in the hood. When Dirty Doug's garage owner threatened him with eviction, Doug sold the car to a car dealership. According to a Rodders Journal article, Bob Hirohata was shot and killed excecution style on May 14, 1981. The murder was never solved.

In 1959, 16 year old Jim McNiel bought the well used custom car off a lot for $500. He was 16 years old at that time and did some repairs to it and drove the car to high school and everywhere else. The car was put in storage in 1964, when he was married. Jim has owned the car ever since, and began to restore it to its original condition in 1988. The car was painted by Junior Conway.[2]

Customs by the Sea is a traditional custom car show in Wildwood, New Jersey. Presented by Kustomrama, the show is open for pre 1952 automobiles, restyled in a pre 1952 style. Click here for more info...